Waste disposal apparatus



Jan. 14, 1958 T. T. WOODSON 2,819,848

WASTE DISPOSAL APPARATUS FiledNov. 19, 1956 7 k \l l 4. F'lCv. l

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INVEN TOR.

THOMAS T. wooosoN HIS ATTORNEY WASTE DISPOSAL APPARATUS Thomas T.Woodson, La Canada, Calif., assignor to General Electric Company, acorporation of New York Application November 19, 1956, Serial No.623,015

8 Claims. (Cl. 241-46) This invention relates to waste disposalapparatus of the type adapted to be connected to the drain opening of asink, and has as its principal object the provision of an improvedgrinding mechanism for such apparatus.

Another object of this invention is to provide waste disposal apparatuswith an improved grinding mechanism impeller adapted to present avariable profile to waste material in the grinding chamber.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent asthe following description proceeds, and the features of novelty whichcharacterize the invention will be pointed out with particularity in theclaims annexed to and forming a part of this specification.

Briefly stated, in accordance with one aspect of my invention there isprovided a waste disposer including a generally cylindrical grindingchamber, a rotary grinding member including an impeller mounted forpivotal movement about an axis generally parallel to the axis of therotary member, and a rotary block secured to the impeller, the rotaryblock being formed and arranged so as to present a varying profile towaste material in the grinding chamber.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be made tothe following description and the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary elevation view, in section, illustrating a wastedisposal device incorporating this invention.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the impeller utilized in the structureshown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation view of the impeller shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is similar to Fig. 2 but shows a modified impeller.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation view of the impeller shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is similar to Fig. 4 but shows another modified impeller.

Fig. 7 is a side elevation view of the impeller shown in Fig. 6.

Referring to the drawing, there is shown a waste disposal device havinga generally cylindrical casing or hopper 1 enclosing the grindingchamber 2 at the bottom of which the grinding or shredding of wastematerial takes place. The upper end of hopper 1 is provided with meanssuitable for supporting the device in the drain opening in a sink or thelike, the supporting means including, for example, a flanged drainsleeve 3, a clamping ring 4, a sealing washer 5, and clamping bolts 6,all arranged so that the open top of hopper 1 may be supported inalignment with a sink drain opening. Preferably, the drain opening isequipped with a suitable drain stopper 7, which may be of the typedisclosed in application Serial No. 549,744 filed November 29, 1955 byFred W. Moore, now Patent No. 2,787,423, April 2, 1957, and assigned tothe assignee of the present application.

The lower end of hopper 1 is provided with a flange 8 Patented Jan. 14,1958 which carries mounting screws 9 for securing a motor housing 10 tothe hopper so as to form an integral structure. Mounted within motorhousing 10 is an electric motor (not shown) provided with a verticallyextending shaft 11 projecting into the drainage chamber 12 defined bythe upper walls of housing 10. Secured to the bottom of tubular hopper 1is a generally cylindrical shredding ring 13 provided with a flange 14at the top thereof which is clamped between flange 8 of the hopper andthe upper end of motor housing 10 so that the shredding ring isstationary with respect to the hopper. Shredding ring 13 is providedwith a plurality of shredding projections 15 on its inner surface, aplurality of openings 16 through which the comminuted material isexpelled during grinding operations, and a row of apertures 17 arrangedto drain excess water from the cornminuting zone. Projections 15,openings 16 and apertures 17 may be conveniently formed by lancing orstamping operations, or by any other suitable means. The arrangement andfunction of shredding ring 13 are more fully described and claimed inapplication Serial No. 553,119 filed December 14, 1955 by Herbert J.Macemon and assigned to the assignee of the present application.

In accordance with the present invention I provide a rotary grindingmember, generally designated by the numeral 18, fixedly secured to theupper end of motor shaft 11 by means of a fastening screw 19, forexample, and provided with impelling means to be described below. Rotarygrinding member 19 includes a generally cylindrical flywheel or table 20having a running clearance with the lower edge portion of shredding ring13, and a pair of impellers 21 and 22 mounted on flywheel 2t) forpivotal movement about an axis generally parallel to the axis ofrotation of motor shaft 11. impellers 21 and 22 are mounted ondiametrically oposite sides of the axis of flywheel 26 and arepreferably identical, only impeller 21 being described in detail herein.

Impeller 21 is adapted to swing freely about pivot pin 23, and thus toimpel waste material against shredding projections 16 and also tocooperate directly with these projections in grinding and cutting wastematerial. I have found that the height of impeller 21 at its swingingend (i. e., the vertical distance between the top surface of theswinging end of impeller 21 and the top surface of flywheel 20)determines to an appreciable extent the in which the vertical height ofthe swinging end of theimpeller is variable, and during operationconstantly changes. To achieve this variation in height I provide arotary block element 26 of generally rectangular configuration mountedfor rotation on the top surface of impeller 21, by means of an upwardlyprojecting pin 27, for example. Block 26 includes a pair of fiatparallel side walls 26a, and 26b, and curved end wall portions 26c, 26d,26:: and 26 each of the end wall portions being spaced farther away fromthe pin 27 than the shortest distance between the pin and side walls 26aand 26b. When rotary block 26 is in the position shown in the drawing,it and impeller 21 presents a large vertical dimension to waste materialin the grinding chamber, while a lesser vertical dimension is presentedalong a considerable portion of the top surface of impeller 21 whenrotary block 26 rotates to a position degrees from that shown in Figs. 1and 2. In operation, rotary element 26 rotates in an irregular manner onimpeller 21 during 3 grinding operations and thus presents a varyingprofile to waste material in the grinding chamber.

In the modified form of my invention shown in Figs. 4

and 5, impeller 21 is provided with a rotary element'28' which isstar-shaped and adapted to rotate about pin 27, so that the impeller asa whole presents a varying profile to waste material in the grindingchamber.

The modified form of my invention shown in Figs. 6 and 7 includes arotary block 29 of generally rectangular configuration, the top surfaceof block 29 being formed by surfaces inclined with respect to the topsurface of impeller 21. The side walls of block 29 include a pair ofparallel fiat walls 29a and 29b, and a pair of end walls 29c and 29d,which may be slightly curved and are spaced from pin 27 at distancesgreater than the shortest distance between the pin and walls 29a and 2%.As in the modifications previously described,'rotation of block 29 aboutpin 27 results in a variation in the'height of the top surface ofimpeller 21, the variation being irregular depending upon the rotaryposition of the block.

In all of the modified forms of the invention as described above, therotary block element located on top of impeller 21 also contributes toimprove grinding action by gouging or chipping waste material, it beingnoted that rotary elements 26, 28, and 29 all include sharp edges andcorners for achieving this function.

While I have shown and described three specific embodiments of thisinvention, I do not desire the invention to be limited to the particularconstructions shown and described, and I intend by the appended claimsto cover all modifications within the true spirit and scope of theinvention.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. Waste disposal apparatus for use with a sink having a drain outletcomprising a housing providing a grinding chamber having at its upperend an inlet opening for water and waste material, mounting means forsecuring said housing to the sink with said inlet opening in alignmentwith said drain outlet, shredding members fixedly secured within saidchamber, a rotatable grinding member Within said grinding chamber, animpeller pivotally mounting on said rotary member for movement about anaxis generally parallel to the axis of rotation of said rotary member,said impeller having a substantially fiat top surface, and a rotaryblock element rotatably mounted on said surface, said block elementhaving at least two external boundary surface portions spaced at unequaldistances from and generally parallel to the rotary axis thereof.

2. Waste disposal apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which saidrotary block element is generally rectangular in cross section alongplanes parallel to said rotary axis, one of said boundary surfaceportions is a flat rectangular wall, and another of said boundarysurface portions is a curved wall spaced farther away from said rotaryaxis than the shortest distance between said rotary axis and said flatwall.

3. Waste disposal'apparatus as defined in claim 1 in which said blockelement is generally rectangular in cross section along plane parallelto said rotary axis, and is star-shaped in cross section along planesperpendicular to said rotary axis.

4. Waste disposal apparatus as defined in claim 1 in which the externalboundaries surface portions of said block element include a pair ofparallel fiat walls and a second pair of walls spaced from said rotaryaxis at distances greater than the shortest distance between said rotaryaxis and each of said fiat walls.

5. Waste disposal apparatus for use with a sink having a drain outletcomprising a cylindrical housing having at its upper end an inletopening for water and waste material, mounting means for securing saidhousing to the sink with said inlet opening in alignment with said drainoutlet, shredding members fixedly secured to the inner surfaces -of saidhousing so as to project into said chamber, a

rotatable flat-topped circular flywheel mounted in said grinding chamberfor rotation about the axis of said cylindrical housing, a pair ofimpellers mounted for pivotal movement on said flywheel, said impellersbeing located on diametrically opposite sides thereof, and each of saidimpellers including a substantially fiat top surface and rotary blockelement rotatably mounted on said surface for rotation about an axisgenerally parallel to the pivotal axis of said impeller, said blockelement having at least two external boundary surface portions spaced atunequal distances from and generally parallel to the rotary axisthereof.

6. Waste disposal apparatus in accordance with claim 5 in which saidrotary block element is generally rectangular in cross section alongplanes parallel to said rotary axis, one of said boundary surfaceportions is a flat rectangular wall, and another of said boundarysurface portions is a curved wall spaced farther away from said rotaryaxis than the shortest distance between said rotary axis and said flatwall.

7. Waste disposal apparatus as defined in claim 5 in which said blockelement is generally rectangular in cross section along planes parallelto said rotary axis, and is star-shaped in cross section along planesperpendicular to said rotary axis.

8. Waste disposal apparatus as defined in claim 5 in which the externalboundary surface portions of said block element include a pair ofparallel fiat walls and a second pair of walls spaced from said rotaryaxis at distances greater than the shortest distance between said rotaryaxis and each of said fiat walls.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,730,300 Seymour Oct. 1, 1929 1,803,148 Sheppard Apr. 28, 19312,573,213 Miller Oct. 30, 1951 2,760,730 Jordan Aug. 28, 1956

